


The Take Down

by IJM



Category: General Hospital
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 09:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17722295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IJM/pseuds/IJM
Summary: It's time to take down the real killer.





	The Take Down

**Author's Note:**

> Not for profit.  
> No claim of ownership of characters/settings/ect… 
> 
> I had this idea last night and wrote it today. I'm not doing chapters of cliffhangers. I'm just going to post it all at once and I hope you enjoy it.

“So, you have a tech department that can make a HD video camera look like a sunflower lapel pin, but it took an independent forensic investigation to prove that my shoes could not have matched the trace elements or wear pattern on the killer’s shoes?” Franco scoffed angrily as he pinned the sunflower to his coat. It looked just like the ones they had distributed at Kiki’s funeral. In addition to the new forensic report, Laura had told Jordan that she remembered seeing Franco, Elizabeth, and the boys on Thanksgiving when Kiki was killed. She had not told Lulu because she felt Lulu was too fragile to know she had identified the wrong man. The GPS data from his telephone had proven he had been moving around Port Charles the night that Lulu was attacked, but he was nowhere near her office. The children had told Jordan, Chase, and Margaux about their trip to the kitchen store and mall surveillance cameras and credit card charges had confirmed this.

“I don’t like this,” Elizabeth reiterated. The PCPD and DA had finally had to admit that Franco was not the killer, but instead letting him go home a free man, Jordan had asked him if he would help target their new prime suspect, Dr. Kevin Collins. He seemed the most likely candidate to have framed Franco using altered patient notes and planted evidence. Elizabeth had literally had to draw them a diagram of how each victim connected to Kevin. But her arguments were compelling and the evidence that cleared Franco was undisputable.

Scotty was enraged by their shoddy investigation that had been designed to ramrod his son into taking the fall for the real killer. He was infuriated even more now that they had the audacity to ask Franco to help them. “He’s not doing it. I’m not letting him.”

“Letting me?” Franco asked. He physically felt much better having had a long, hot shower, getting a change of clothing, and being able to eat something for the first time in days. But he was still emotionally wrecked that he had been accused, that the boys and Elizabeth had had to suffer because of his past, and that his psychiatric file had been invaded by the police and district attorney. “I’m old enough to make my own decisions,” he told Scotty.

“If I had been able to make decisions for you when you were a kid, you probably never would have wound up in this predicament in the first place!” Scotty added a little more loudly than necessary.

“It’s not my fault you had sex with a psycho who sold me to another psycho who let another psycho abuse me night and day while she looked the other way,” Franco snapped back. “Maybe if you could keep your pants zipped you wouldn’t have kids randomly popping every decade or so.”

“You do blame me for this, don’t you?” Scotty asked. Tensions were running very high among everyone—even the ones on the same side from the beginning.

Elizabeth took Franco’s hand and he exhaled.

“No, Pops, I don’t blame you. I’m sorry. You’ve been very good to me since we found out you are my father.”

“Maybe I blame me enough for both of us,” Scotty admitted, taking a seat next to his son. “If I had known you existed…”

“You didn’t,” Franco stopped him from ruminating over a past that was, as Kevin had said, written in pen. “Psycho Mom Number One made sure of it. You can’t beat yourself up because Heather lied to you.  Her lie to truth ratio is skewed toward lies.”

Jordan, Chase, and Margaux were all in the room, quietly listening to the interfamilial drama. They were each embarrassed and apologetic about their hastily made decisions that had put Franco behind bars, falsely accused.

“It’s not your job to help these morons,” Elizabeth told him. “You should just come home with me and we’ll get the kids, and we’ll find a justice of the peace and get married today. I promise you.” She placed the invitation he had drawn on the table in front of him.

He picked it up. “This,” he said. “This is why I need to go after Kevin. He tried to take this away from us. He killed my little girl. She should be standing beside Cameron, but I couldn’t draw her there because she’s gone. If Kevin is the killer, Ava is in danger. Laura is in danger. Lulu is in danger because she might have real memories surface. Anyone who crosses him could be killed. I’m not doing this for Larry, Moe, and Curly,” he nodded toward Jordan, Chase, and Margaux. “I’m doing this for Kiki. For OUR kids, Elizabeth. Kevin could go after any one of them. He’s obviously had a psychotic break and thinks he’s Ryan again.”

“They can use their clever detective skills to get them for themselves,” Scotty reminded him.

“Sure, they can,” Franco said. “They can’t find real evidence. Kevin will get off on some technicality or frame someone else. I need to make him confess.”

“How are you going to do that?” Elizabeth asked desperately. “How are YOU going to make Kevin crack when he’s been making a fool of everyone in this town for months?”

“I know Kevin. I also know how a serial killer’s mind works, unfortunately. They already explored and exploited the darkest parts of my life. I don’t have anything I can discuss with him that they don’t already know.” He looked past Elizabeth, glaring at the law enforcement offices with fury. He was not willing to do this for their benefit.

“We’ll be right beside him in the next office. We’ll hear and see everything,” Jordan assured Elizabeth. “If Kevin poses a threat, we can contain him in seconds.”

“Seconds is all takes for a doctor to make a surgical quality incision in a human being,” Elizabeth reminded them.

“That’s why we have the protective vests. They’re not just for bullets.”

“Elizabeth,” Franco put his hand to her cheek. “My greatest fear at this moment is that Kevin will be so enraged that I’m walking free that he will come after you and the boys. His plan failed. He failed. You are in danger. He would take you as retribution for me getting out of this. I’ll stay in the cell until they catch him before I walk, knowing he could hurt you or the kids.”

“We’ll die of old age before that happens,” Elizabeth told him. She thought about her kids and the life she wanted. She wanted to be Franco’s wife and, yeah, maybe she wanted to have a baby with him now that Aiden had brought it up and Franco had asked so politely. She bit her lip. “We do want to make Aiden happy, don’t we,” she said softly.

He smiled, only for her. “Yeah,” he whispered. “Very happy.” His voice was low, almost a purr.

Scotty shook his head. Love made people do stupid things. His son was not immune, but neither was he.

“I suppose this is the most efficient route to take,” Elizabeth conceded, feeling better with the knowledge that he would have a protective vest. “If a vest will protect you from being stabbed the way Kiki and Lulu were, and if they can get something right once in a while, it may lift a dark cloud from our lives and from the city too.”

Jordan didn’t relish the way her investigative skills were being discussed, but she had no grounds to defend herself.

“You’re okay with it?” Franco asked Elizabeth. He wouldn’t do it if she refused.

“Resigned to it,” Elizabeth told him. “Kevin is a danger to people we care about. And, you’re right. He would likely go after the kids like he went after Ava’s child and Laura’s child. We have to put the boys first.”

“Exactly,” Franco agreed. “My past is putting them in the crosshair. I can’t let that be.”

“I’m really sick of people not realizing who you really are,” Elizabeth said. “You’re smarter, braver, kinder than anyone else in this room.”

“You have faith in me. I don’t have to win over the world. You are my world.” They shared a brief kiss.

“The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go home,” Elizabeth said. She turned to Jordan. “If one hair on his head is disturbed, I will destroy you.”

Jordan nodded. She let the threat slide. She had fouled up the investigation. There was no justification. She would have to lick her wounds later.

 

 ****************

Franco opened the door to Kevin’s office. “I need to talk to you,” he told him.

Ryan reached for his phone, “How are you here? Did you escape?”

“Put the phone down,” Franco told him. “I’m free.”

Anger flickered in Ryan’s eyes, not unnoticed by Franco. “How did that happen?” he asked.

“Obviously, they figured out I’m not guilty. I can’t talk about the specifics, at this point. It’s a gag order of sorts to protect evidence. That’s irrelevant to us,” Franco spoke quickly, as if he were agitated. He glanced at the sunflower on his jacket. He hoped it was working. It had transmitted perfectly in the test run.

Ryan approached Franco, walked past him, and closed and locked the door. Franco unlocked the door. “I’m not comfortable being locked in here with you.”

“Why?” Ryan asked.

“You betrayed me, Kevin. You know how I am about being closed in with someone I can’t trust. That list has gotten significantly shorter since I had to take you off,” he added. He sat in front of Kevin’s desk and immediately picked up the wood carving he had stared at during hypnosis.

“Okay,” Ryan said, leaving the door unlocked. Franco wanted to discuss his relationship with Kevin. He didn’t appear to believe that he was the one who set him up. Ryan returned to the desk and sat. He closed his computer because he had information that he didn’t want seen.

“How did I betray you?” Ryan asked.

“Those notes in the file. Why did you write that? You never said any of that to me. Where did the idea come from? Why did you stop trusting me? You believed in me. You told me I had changed. You said I was okay. You said I would be okay. Now you’re saying I’m having some sort of psychotic break? Why?”

“You have a fragmented mind, Franco.” Ryan answered coolly. “When Lulu named you as her attacker, I had to conclude that you were committing these acts and unaware of it.”

“I don’t have any memory loss,” Franco answered.

Ryan laughed. “Franco, you have an entire lifetime of memory loss. You couldn’t distinguish reality for years. Years. Yes, I thought you were doing well all things considered, but you’re fragile at best.”

“I didn’t do anything. The police have proof. How could Lulu say I attacked her?”

Ryan took a deep breath, quickly concocting a story to explain Lulu’s errors while refraining from implicating himself. “You have a history with Lulu. It’s possible that whatever happened to her was so traumatic that she confused the two events. Maybe she saw your face in place of the real attacker because you’re a safer option that what was real.”

“So, memories from hypnosis can be fake?” Franco asked.

“It can happen,” Ryan answered rather flippantly.

“And you were willing to throw me under a bus without even consulting with me when you knew the memories could be fake?”

“Franco, I’m not God. I had no reason to disbelieve Lulu.”

“You had no reason to lose faith in me.”

“She identified you.”

“You know me.”

Ryan looked down, trying to maintain his composure. This guy was a neurotic mess and he did not have his brother’s compassion or ability to tolerate such for long. “I know you have been under an intense emotional strain for the last year and a half. I know you repress memories to spare yourself from unmanageable pain.”

“I faced that.” Franco reminded him. “With you. You said… you said I had healed.” His voice broke. Though he was acting, he wasn’t acting very much. His pain from this betrayal was very real. He pushed it down. Now was the time to bring up Ryan. “You said I had been able to do something your brother couldn’t accomplish. No matter how much you wanted to help Ryan, he couldn’t overcome your mother raping him and the abandonment by your father.”

Ryan seethed inwardly. Kevin’s notes did not indicate exactly the extent of what he had shared of his personal history with this nut-job. Kevin was a little too free with information about his brother’s life. He would pay for that. “Ryan was brilliant,” he said of himself. “Cold, calculating, diabolical…. But brilliant.”

“On some level you always admired him,” Franco ventured.

Ryan looked pleased. Maybe Kevin had wanted to be more like him, after all. Who better to share that with than someone who could also admire his work. “You think that?” he asked.

Franco shrugged. “Sure. Ryan set his goals and made them happen. He took control of his life and didn’t take crap off anyone. It can’t have been easy for you to revisit all of that with this ridiculous coverage of the anniversary of his killing spree.  You played by the rules while Ryan made his own.” He toyed with the killer’s ego, knowing just where to poke a stick to anger a bear.

“Ridiculous?” Ryan repeated, vacillating between curiosity and anger.

“Ryan shouldn’t be remembered. The victims should be.  Between Lulu’s articles and that documentary that was being made, Ryan was the one being celebrated.  That’s sick.”

“You wouldn’t want anyone to mark your notoriety?” Ryan asked, an evil drawl in his voice.

“No,” Franco said. “I hate that part of my life. I wish I could erase it from history.”

“You do have remorse,” Ryan ceded. “I guess I was wrong about you going around town killing people.”

Franco was disappointed. He was hoping Kevin would slip somehow by this point. “You know, who ever the real killer is, he’s a coward.” Franco threw out an insult.

“Coward?” Ryan repeated. “He seems rather bold to me, leaving a head in a barrel and a body in a gallery.”

“Ava’s gallery,” Franco added, latching onto that direction for the conversation. “Like a cat dragging in a dead mouse to its owner as a gift.”

“You think the killer wanted to gift a dead body to Ava?”

“Seems like it,” Franco told him. “Maybe,” he swallowed, reminding himself to remain composed. “Maybe that’s why he killed Kiki. Because Ava and Kiki were fighting. Obviously, he took Ava’s side in that one.”

“Peyton Mills. Lulu… they were getting too close to the truth, weren’t they, Kevin?”

Ryan opened the top drawer of his desk. “What truth is that, Franco?” He realized the neurotic nuisance was smarter than he initially thought.

“You did it,” Franco accused him. He shrugged. “Hey, were in a safe space, right. That’s what you’ve always told me.”

“You think the esteemed Dr. Kevin Collins would commit murder?” Ryan asked, incredulously. He slipped an item from the drawer, not allowing Franco to see what it was.

“If the esteemed Dr. Kevin Collins was off in la la land thinking he was his dearly departed brother again…” Franco noticed the movement Kevin made with his hand and he stood up. He was not going to sit awaiting an attack.

“I do not THINK I am Ryan Chamberlain,” he said slowly, coldly. “Lulu looked right into my face and couldn’t see it.” He also stood up, approaching Franco.

Franco backed away, knowing the cops should bust through the door any moment. He subconsciously looked toward the door. “You’re just as stupid as she is. Look at me, Franco!” he yelled. “I AM Ryan Chamberlain.” With a swift motion, he plunged a surgical scalpel into Franco’s chest.

Franco heard the door open. He heard Jordan yelling at Kevin… Ryan?... to drop his weapon. He didn’t understand why he had fallen. The vest was supposed to protect him, but the fierce pain in his side told him it had not. He gasped for air, unable to get enough. He coughed and heard Elizabeth yelling his name. He thought he heard a physical confrontation between men with furniture crashing and glass breaking. He grabbed Elizabeth’s hand with the strength he could find. “I love you,” he choked out.

“You’re going to be fine,” Elizabeth told him. She didn’t know herself, but she wouldn’t let him think otherwise. He nodded. She followed the gaze of his eyes over her shoulder. She didn’t see anything. But he did.

“Kiki.”

 *****************

It was a chaotic scene. Elizabeth was hysterical. Chase tackled Ryan after Jordan shot him in the leg to take him down because he stepped toward her with the blade. Both were covered in blood, but Chase was not injured. The room filled with medical staff and police officers that the medical staff were telling to back off and let them work.

“He has a collapsed lung,” Lucas told Elizabeth. “I won’t know the extend of the damage until I get him into surgery.” He nodded to the men who had moved Franco onto a gurney. He didn't have time to do scans or preliminary assessments. If the wound was like Lulu's, he had to act quickly. They headed toward the operating room. Lucas told a nurse to have a certain anesthesiologist meet them immediately. “He’ll be okay,” he told Elizabeth, before rushing off.

Franco was whisked away from Elizabeth, while Scotty held her back in the interest of saving his son’s life by keeping Elizabeth from delaying medical attention with her grief and fear. He had no idea how serious this injury was. Some other doctor had taken Kevin – or was he Ryan – away with Chase guarding them both.

Jordan approached Elizabeth to see if she was okay.

“You bitch! You lying bitch!” Elizabeth screamed at Jordan. “You said that damn vest would protect him from a blade!” She slapped Jordan’s face as hard as she could.

Jordan put her hand to her stinging cheek as she stumbled from the blow. “It does protect from commercial grade blades. He had a scalpel!” She tried to defend her reasoning.

“And it didn’t occur to you that a doctor with a stabbing fetish who was in a hospital would have access to a surgical blade? How in the hell are you a police commissioner? You’re supposed to be smarter than the bad guys. We trusted you!   You’re responsible for this.  You put him in danger.”

Jordan started to reply but Scotty stopped her, “Save it,” he said. “You can explain yourself to your lawyer.”

“I have to scrub in,” Elizabeth told Scotty trying to wrench herself away from him. “I have to be with him.”

“Go,” Scotty told her, letting her run off to the surgical floor. Franco would do better in the surgery if Elizabeth was there. He knew that.

He turned to Jordan, “You better pray to whatever god you believe in and all the ones you don’t that my son comes out of this alive and able to live a full life. Because, lady, if he doesn’t your head is going to roll.” He added, “Metaphorically, of course,” to keep from being dragged into police custody himself. He left Jordan standing in the doorway to Kevin’s office. He had to call Laura, Ava, and Drew and he had to make sure the boys were okay.  Once again, the PCPD’s brilliant strategies had backfired spectacularly.

 

*********************

Elizabeth changed stations on the television every few seconds. She was restless, waiting for Franco to wake up from the sedative he had been given post-surgery. He had reacted badly to the anesthesia, suffering extreme nausea. It was a common reaction, but it could be harmful given the location and type of his injuries. The injuries were not life threatening. It would take a couple of weeks to recover from the collapsed lung and other tissue damage inflicted by the scalpel blade. The wound was not wide, but it had penetrated the rib cage, puncturing a lung and breaking a single rib. That could take longer to heal, but there wasn’t much that could be done about it, other than keeping a patient comfortable.

The protective jacket absorbing and slowing down the impact was probably the only reason Franco was still alive. The angle of the blade was the same as Kiki’s mortal wound. Elizabeth shuddered thinking about it.

She had seen the news and paid attention long enough to know that a wave of relief was sweeping over the city because the serial killer had been identified and captured. His identity had not been released pending formal charges. “Wrongfully accused art therapist Franco Baldwin was injured in an undercover operation designed to gain a confession,” the newscaster had said. She was pleased he was referred to as an art therapist in the press release that the PCPD had made. They had released his hospital identification badge photo to the press, not a mugshot. It was a step in the right direction. It was calming to know he was not being portrayed as a monster. She turned off the television and dropped the remote beside her.

There was a knock on the door. “Come in,” Elizabeth told them, expecting a nurse to come in and check his vital signs.

“Is it okay if we sit with you?” Laura asked. Lulu was with her and she looked utterly distraught. She was in a wheelchair, still recovering from her own brush with death. “Scotty called me,” she added.

Elizabeth nodded. “Where is Scotty?”

“I think he’s with Della preparing a lawsuit against the city and the police department and the hospital and anyone else he can think of.”

Elizabeth snickered. “That sounds like Scotty.”

“I’m so sorry!” Lulu said, reaching for Elizabeth’s hands. “I swear I saw his face.”

“He made you remember that,” Elizabeth told her. “I don’t know how, but he used you to frame Franco.”

“I should never have left you alone with him.” Laura stated.

Elizabeth’s expression changed. “Um, Laura, I hate to ask, but who is he?” She had heard Kevin declare that he was indeed Ryan Chamberlain. Was that even possible?

Laura took a deep breath. “I think he’s Ryan. A lot of things have been different. And he asked me about a pre-nuptial agreement that didn’t exist. I think he has Kevin somewhere and Kevin misled him to trip him up.”

“But where is Kevin?” Elizabeth asked.

“I have no idea,” Laura said sadly. He’s recovering from surgery too, sedated.“ Scott told us Franco was going to be okay. I’m so glad.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Physically. I think he’s deeply hurt by what he saw as Kevin’s betrayal and his psychiatric records being turned over to the police.”

Lulu started to cry. “I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

“I know,” Elizabeth assured her. “He will know that too when he wakes up. We figured out all signs were pointing to Kevin and that he had somehow messed with your recall.”

“I’m going to write a front-page story about how you both helped save this town from Kevin or Ryan… whenever they figure out who it is.”

“That would be a nice change of pace in his media coverage,” Elizabeth gave her a reassuring smile.

There was another knock on the door. This time it was Drew and he had the boys with him. “I brought the best medicine,” he said.

Laura hugged the boys and told Elizabeth she would come back later. She and Lulu left to give them time to be together with kids.

“Thanks,” Elizabeth said to Drew softly. She watched as Aiden and Jake approached Franco’s bed. They were inquisitive about the monitors. She explained what each piece of equipment was used for and why it was needed.

“Is he really okay?” Cameron asked, hanging back closer to the door.

“He will be,” she answered. She noticed how anxious he looked. “What’s wrong? Come here.” She motioned for him to come sit with her.

“It’s just… I like our family. It’s better with Franco. I don’t want to lose another dad.”

Her heart broke just a little bit. “You won’t.”

“I think something’s wrong,” Jake said, watching Franco.

Elizabeth jumped up to check. She sighed with relief. “He’s just waking up from the pain and nausea medication,” she told them.

He coughed and reached for his throat which was sore from a tube that had been inserted during the surgery. “Hold on,” Elizabeth told him. She elevated the head of the bed and gave him a cup of cool water, which he was happy to take.

“Did I die?” he asked.

Elizabeth laughed. “No. You caught a serial killer though.”

“Kiki,” he said. “She was there.”

She squeezed his hand, knowing how much he missed his “un-daughter.”

“What did Kiki have to say?” she asked.

“She’s okay. She’s proud of me. She’s at peace.”

“Are you okay?” Aiden asked.

“Hey, Munchkin,” he said, noticing the boys for the first time. “I think I’m still about half asleep.” He shook his head, trying to wake himself up. “I think I’m going to live.”

“You better,” Cam told him, approaching. “Now that we’re all used to you, you can’t just leave.”

Franco nodded, realizing Cameron had really feared losing him. “I’m not leaving. Never on purpose.”

 “Well, I think you need to stop hanging out around people who want to beat you up and kill you. You’re getting too old for that.”

“Good advice,” Franco agreed, laughing. He realized Drew was in the room too because he heard him laughing as well. He winced, feeling a sharp pain. “Oh, don’t make me laugh,” he told them putting his hand to the wound on his chest.  

“You sound kind of congested,” Drew observed that his breathing labored.

Franco looked to Elizabeth.

“Your lung collapsed,” she told him. “Kevin… or Ryan… whoever he was stabbed you before the police got in the room.”

“But I was wearing the jacket,” he said, clearly remembering that he thought he would be safe, even if Kevin had tried to stab him.

Elizabeth frowned. “Yeah, we’ll talk about that later.” Her voice was clearly expressing anger at someone.

He nodded. “What happened to Kevin? Or Ryan? He said he was Ryan. He can’t be Ryan.  Has Kevin gone crazy?”

“He got shot because he went for Jordan, so he’s also recovering from surgery, but is handcuffed to a bed. I assume. We really don’t know who he is yet. Laura thinks he’s Ryan.”

“Is it still today?” Franco asked.

“No, baby, it’s tomorrow.”

“You two belong together,” Drew told them. “That made no sense.”

“Yes, it did,” they both answered.

“Perfect match,” Drew reiterated. He had a gift bag in his hand, and he held it so that Franco could reach it.

“You got me a get well present?” Franco asked.

Drew put his hand over the bag. “Before you open it. I just want to say I hope you understand when you see it.”

“I’m intrigued,” Franco told him, trying to open the bag, but Drew still resisted.

“It might not mean anything to you, but I hope it does.”

“Can I have it now?” Franco asked.

“Don’t laugh,” Drew said. He seemed to question his own taste in gifts.

Franco removed the tissue and pulled out a plush stuffed dog. It was light beige with dark brown ears and had plastic eyes and ribbon around its neck. “Woofy Dog!” he exclaimed. He looked at Drew, “How do you know about Woofy Dog?”

“I remembered a little bit. I’ve been going to a private therapist outside the hospital. I didn’t want anyone to know what I was doing.”

“Woofy Dog?” Elizabeth asked. She had no idea what this was, but she saw that it absolutely made Franco happy.

“When we were little, I had one favorite toy. I didn’t feel safe if I didn’t have him with me to go to sleep. Andy had one too, but his was dark brown with beige ears. When were had to start sleeping in separate rooms, we decided that Woofy Dog and Woofy Dog—we were three, okay?” he added noticing the looks he was getting from the kids. “Anyway, we decided that they could send messages to each other and let us know if the other one was scared. Sometimes it worked.” He shrugged. Elizabeth wanted to hug him, but she held back.

“You had telepathic stuffed animals?” Cam asked, laughing.

“It’s a twin thing,” Drew told them.

“But you’re not actually twins,” Jake reminded them, confused.

“Well we didn’t know that when we were three,” Drew answered.

“I think it’s sweet,” Elizabeth said.

“What else do you remember?” Franco asked Drew, eager to hear more.

“We’ll talk about it later,” Drew said. “I just thought that, you know, having been through everything—like being stabbed… you might need a Woofy Dog.”

Franco nodded, understand everything Drew wasn’t saying. “You’re a good brother.”

“You’re an even better brother,” Drew replied. “Okay, boys, come on. Let me take you home with me so your mom can stay with your dad overnight.”

The boys each hugged Franco and their mother. “I hope you come home tomorrow,” Aiden told them.

“I’ll let you know,” Elizabeth said. I need to get your Uncle Lucas to check on… your dad.” She looked pointedly at Cameron. Yes, this one was a keeper.

Franco grasped her hand before she left, “Wait, just a minute,” he told her. He wanted a moment alone before having to be examined again.

“What is it?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?”

“This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“That is not on you,” Elizabeth assured him. She toned down her anger because she could see that he did think it was aimed at him in some part. “Look,” she sat next to him for a moment. “You risked your life to protect me, the kids, Ava, Laura, Lulu, and every other vulnerable person in this city. That’s something to be proud of. And I am proud of you. I will be even prouder to take your name when we finally get married, which is going to be very soon, by the way.”

“How about I take your name?”

She looked at him, puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“Well, the boys are all Webbers. So, if we both hyphenate our names to Webber-Baldwin…”

Elizabeth smiled and the love in her expression could have lit up the world. “You are the most amazing man, I have ever known.” She kissed him.

“No contact sports!” Lucas said, walking into the room. He was doing his usual rounds to check on his patients.

Elizabeth laughed and broke away from her soon-to-be husband.

Lucas cleared his throat. Elizabeth and Franco both looked at him. “I see you woke up and didn’t tell anyone.”

“I told a nurse,” Franco said. “Her.” He laughed at his own joke and grabbed his side again. “Ow. That hurts.”

Lucas examined him, asking questions about where he experienced pain. He got him to move in a few ways to assess what was a stressor to the injury. “I think you’re going to be fine,” he announced.

“Great!” Elizabeth said. “We have a wedding to rearrange. Again.”

“You have to take some precautions,” Lucas told them. “Two weeks… bed rest. Don’t pick up anything heavier than a carton of milk. Don’t strain yourself in any way that can be avoided—no exercise, no heavy lifting, no housework, and like I said, no contact sports.”

Elizabeth and Franco both frowned.

“So… what can I do?”

“You can sleep, or you can sit on your couch and watch TV.”

“Sounds boring.”

“Use the time to plan the wedding. Again.”

“That’s a good idea,” Franco said. “We’re getting married two weeks from tomorrow, by the way. You’re invited.”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Lucas told them. “Thanks for what you did, Franco. You probably saved lives we’ll never even know were in danger.”

“He’s my hero,” Elizabeth said.

“The town’s hero,” Lucas offered.

“No, I said he’s mine. I’m not sharing.”

Lucas sighed. “I’ll be back later. I’ll leave you two to not engage in any contact sports. Get some rest, Franco.”

Franco sighed and took Elizabeth’s hand. “Let’s plan a wedding.”

 

  * End




End file.
